Sefton Coast

The final sculpture on the Sefton Coastal Path Sculpture Trail was installed at Hightown just before Christmas.

This sculpture forms a trackway that runs along the new cycle path leading from Hightown to Crosby beach.

Over 20 feet of wood has been installed which contain artwork relating to the ancient man-made trackway that has been discovered in the area.

For the artwork we visited Cambridge Children’s Centre and Brunswick Youth Club and delivered workshops based on metal embossing. The images are all of food that our ancestors would have eaten in the area.

Going to the location we lay out the trackway

making some on site adjustments

and then a little bit of digging and turf removal

before lying them down and securing them in place.

Huge thanks to Fiona, John and Rachel, to all at the Cambridge Children’s Centre and the super kids and staff at the Brunny. And as always to Phill and Joe – Adam, you were missed – such a super installation team.

Three Wooden Henges have been installed on the path at Birkdale, near the Weld Road car park. They are in a small patch of wetland – perfectly sited with the artwork representing rare and endangered plant species in the area.

These forms were inspired by the flora of the Birkdale hills and were used to inspire three Go with the Flow groups to make flowers and plant forms out of delicately twisted coloured wire.

These were then set in resin inside recesses in the wooden henges, each one cut out by hand by Phill.

When the three Henges were ready they were loaded onto a trailer, taken on site and unloaded, under Pepper’s watchful eye..

and hauled into place

so that digging could start.

It was hot work –

carefully monitored…

only pausing to rescue a toad deep in one of the holes..

Finally the holes were deep enough to lift each Henge upright and set then in place.

Making a beautiful trio.

Thank you Go with the Flow Bootle and Southport. and Free Flow, Formby.

How wonderful to see some people and their furry friends enjoying the Lizard bench down Fisherman’s Path – we thought we would share :

Sheila’s lovely furry faces Bertie and Elliot

Geoff and Hannah with the incredible Nico

Jayne with her perfect little Jack Russels, Florrie and Mavis

Cheryl with the friendliest dogs ever – Winston and Monty

John with beautiful Luna.

Thanks so much for sharing these pictures! We love to see pictures of families and pets enjoying the sculptures so if you go visiting please do take a picture and share it with us via our facebook page: www.facebook.com/seftoncoastsculpturetrail2015

After the bisque firing we went to the Southport Ceramic Studio to see the clay feet. We were really thrilled with the way they turned out, with strong imprints of toes and feet.

Everyone at the family day workshop had done a great job of rolling on the plants and there is a lovely mixture of both bold and delicate forms.

There are over 40 feet – including animal paw prints – that we will be able to choose from for the wall. We spent 3 hours painting on glazes and oxides and rubbing them into the delicate plant traceries.

Under the guidance of Chris

Then into the kiln for the final firing

Once fired they look absolutely beautiful, especially against a plank of 7000 year old bog oak

We had a very creative day with Natural Alternatives who are an essential and hard working voluntary part of the wider team that keeps the Sefton Coastal Path going and in good repair.

We used the Cyanotype process for the Bird Bench – a perfect link in colour and images for this sculpture. This is an alternative photographic process invented by John Hershcel in 1842 and used in the 19C to record plant specimens. The group explored the process using feathers and images of birds to celebrate Marshside RSPB where the Coastal Path starts.

Two of the group demonstrating the colour of the paper to start with – the Bockingford watercolour paper has been painted with a light sensitive solution that is green until it is exposed to ultra violet light.

When the paper is rinsed in tap water, the colour changes to a beautiful deep blue, leaving behind a perfect image of whatever was placed on the green sheet – in this case feathers.

The images created celebrates some of the species of birds that can be seen at Marshside RSPB: avocets; curlew; pink footed geese; skylarks among others. The group also placed some plants and leaves around the images, making some beautiful scenes.

The group worked hard all day and we had good fun with the process with lovely pieces to put in the Bench – thank you Natural Alternatives!!